I am going to blast two of my brass cabooses tomorrow night in preparation for painting and finishing. One is the Hallmark side door, center cupola caboose and the other is an Overland braced cupola caboose. I would like to know what color is appropriate for these cabooses so I can get them in service on the Northern Division. I prefer Scalecoat but will consider other types of paint if you have had a good experience with it. Thanks in advance for your help. Ship IT on the Frisco ! Rick
This is going to blow your mind, but what I used on AMB's cabooses was something I bought at Auto Zone. It's Duplicolor Sandable Red Primer. It does a dynamite job on the wood, but I'm not too sure it wouldn't be too heavy for the brass. I have sprayed resin kits using it also, but you have to be really careful not to get carried away. It's a dead match for the caboose color on a marker light bracket I have with several coats of Frisco caboose paint on it. I think if you use Scalecoat or any other paint, you may have to experiment with color. If nothing else, get some of the primer and spray out a panel for a match.
Don, Thanks for the tip. I got my can of Duplicolor Sandable Primer today and it is really close to Scalecoat PRR Freight Car Red. Going to try both on some plastic and metal tonight. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Don, I tried the Duplicolor primer on a blasted (with an abrasive blaster, not *&^%$) caboose interior floor and I found that it went on thin and needed 4-5 light passes for coverage. It dries within about 15 mins so I followed that with a coat of Scalecoat 1 gloss just to see if everything would stick. I found that the Duplicolor goes on pretty thin and the Scalecoat gloss seems to be sticking well. I think I like this stuff. Next step is to get the time later this week to try it on a caboose body. On the outside chance it fails, I can still blast it and start over. I like the color because it is just red enough. Box Car Red and PRR Red were pretty brown in comparison. I have two of Jan Jesters scratcbbuilt 100 series cabooses and they are caboose red, pretty bright. I think the B&W Frisco coonskin is going to show up well against the Duplicolor red background. The black and white photos that we have make the roof look black as best as I can tell. Is that correct and is the underbody black or primer red? I think the handrails after 1946 were yellow, right? Thanks for all the help. This is great. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Rick, I'd recalled posting an old e-mail regarding caboose handrails - looks like you're right on the mark for 1946! http://www.frisco.org/vb/showpost.php?p=12035&postcount=1 I'll be eager to see what others can contribute regarding roof and underbody color. Best Regards,
I overcame my fears and spray painted my Overland braced cupola caboose with Duplicolor Primer. It worked. Using my best spraying technique and keeping each pass light, I was able to get the caboose completely covered in less than 10 minutes. I made sure to have the paint spraying and the can moving before coming in contact with the car body. In addition, I made sure that the light passes went on wet. As a result, the detail, especially the individual planks on the sides, was preserved. I am going to let it dry for more than the recommended 30 minutes and then coat it with Scalecoat gloss tomorrow night. More later . . . Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
To give you all an update on my brass caboose project, I painted it with Duplicolor Primer (spray can) and it went on pretty smooth. I added a Scalecoat gloss coat and put a few decals on it to see how it would work and it seems ok. Attached is a photo of #27. Unfortunately, the model is not as prototypical as I had hoped. Using a late 1940s photo from McCall's Frisco Southwest book, I added decals on the outside of the baggage door and then noticed that the car must be too short. I may remove these decals and center them under the cupola, still thinking. This is probably a problem already know to many of you but it is new to me . . . . . I also need to paint the handrails yellow since I am post 1946/7 so that will be coming. . . . Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Trying to catch up on posts...bee-yoo-tee-ful model, Rick. In the past I've found several projects on the workbench at a complete standstill when I couldn't find this photo or that drawing. Now that I've finally just started modeling based on what I know I know, with permission to change it later. I'm amazed at how much faster my modeling goes!
OK by me . . . There's lots of things we can model based on all the information on this website. I have been putting off modeling an ex-troop sleeper baggage car and another sleeper as an express car. I have the cars just not the time. I am still getting my power together for my late 1940s operating sessions and I'm not real fast. I also depend on the guys on this site to play SMEs and let me know if something is off or not. I am looking for someone to confirm what I am doing or make some constructive suggestions. I am not afraid to strip a model down and do it again. Thanks for the kind words. Let me know when you are in KC, the hub of western civilization. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick PS Did you see my PS1?
Rick, The caboose turned out great! I don't have one of these any more, so can't testify that the dimensions are too short from the bag door to the end. The Duplicolor paint is the best color match I've run across so far. I can't take credit for it tho, as I was over at AMB one day admiring the cabooses and asked what they painted them with and that's what they were using. Here's a shot of one of my AMB cabooses prior to weathering that I used the red primer on. I didn't overspray it with clear before decaling. The wood soaks it up and it makes a great finish. Only thing I did differently from the standard kit was to substitute some thin styrene for the fascia board, which allowed me to narrow the roof and make the braces look better. Other than that, it's just standard AMB. I'm thinking of making a side door out of one of these kits some day. I built one of the side door, no end platform jobs from scratch and like it. I've been doing my weathering with chalks because it's reversable if you screw up and overdo it.
Wow, nice job! Your decals look great. Maybe I can skip the gloss coat too . . . . . . . . Not sure I like the decals on my Hallmark caboose on the outside of the door. Looks too crowded. The only photos that I have of these cabs with a centered coonskin are dated in the 1960s. Do you know if any of the cabooses with lettering and herald centered under the cupola. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Howdy Don, The model looks great. What period did you model it for? I am concerned about the ladder hoops breaking off when I take it to the club, sometimes, accidents happen.... anyway, I was thinking I could clip the hoops on mine, too. I am modeling between 45 and 59. Best Regards, mike
My model cutoff date is 1943. I found that most of the wood cupola series had the cutoff ladders and the steel cupola seemed to be predomitately with loops. These ladders are the ones AMB gives you to build and are strong. Once they are put together, I give them a coat of ACC which seals the wood and makes the ladder stronger. I don't remember if that's in the instructions or not.
Howdy, Thanks Don, good tip on the ACC for strength. The ladders seem very strong below the hoops and a bit weak above. The ACC will help a lot. I built the first one with a steel cupola and will build the next one with the wooden one. Best Regards, mike
